Carving Tips From World's Fastest Knife-Thrower

NEW YORK (Nov. 25) -- Every Thanksgiving I find myself in the position of having to carve a turkey without really knowing how. This year, rather than wrestling with a cooked bird, I sought help from David Adamovich, a trained chef otherwise known as "The Great Throwdini -- the World's Fastest and Most Accurate Knife-Thrower."

This is a man who's thrown 144 knives around a human target in one minute, earning a spot in the Guinness Book of Records. He's sliced a quarter-inch of ash off a cigarette held in a woman's mouth. He's even caught 25 knives in one minute. And recently, he became the first person ever to perform the ridiculously dangerous Triple Crown: a bullet, arrow and knife catch.



As a graduate of the professional chef program at the Institute of Culinary Education in Manhattan, Throwdini is as handy wielding a knife in the kitchen as he is throwing it at a young woman spinning on the Wheel of Death. In fact, there may not be another human being with his combined talents on this planet. Surely, he carves a bird with fewer struggles than the rest of us.

"Everyone expects me to carve the turkey perfectly," Adamovich says. However, there will be no knives thrown at the turkey when he celebrates Thanksgiving. "It's a day of rest where I don't have to be Throwdini, just the chef of the day. But I still get to use knives.

"Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. It's an opportunity to use my culinary skills to entertain the family."

On Monday, at New York City's long-running Monday Night Magic show, Throwdini kicked off Thanksgiving week by tossing knives at "Target Girl" Kryssy Kocktail. By Tuesday, he was hard at work preparing the family feast he'll serve at his Long Island home.

Plans for his extravagant menu include sage-butter roasted turkey; sourdough stuffing with sausage, apples and golden raisins; scalloped potatoes and fennel; and, for dessert, maple syrup ice cream with chocolate-covered bacon. Chef Adamovich personally prepares every dish from scratch.

As for the actual carving, Throwdini uses an 8-inch Henckels chef's knife, which, including the handle, is about the same length as the 14-inch knives he throws. "So it feels comfortable in my hand," he says.

He assures me carving isn't as daunting as it may seem, and he offered a few basic tips:

1. First, let the turkey rest after you take it out of the oven.
2. Wiggle the legs and see where the joint is, then put the knife in and push.
3. Remove the breasts from the carcass; cut them sideways, across the grain, not with.

"You'll have very tender chunks of turkey breast that fall apart in your mouth as you bite them," he says.

And when I do, explaining how I learned my carving techniques will be as enjoyable as the meal.